


I Know It's A Lie

by sinofwriting



Category: Catfish: The TV Show, Machine Gun Kelly (Musician)
Genre: Catfish AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2021-01-13 11:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21243632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinofwriting/pseuds/sinofwriting
Summary: Leighton refused to believe that she was actually talking to Machine Gun Kelly, that just couldn't be who she was talking to.





	I Know It's A Lie

Dear Nev and Co.

Hi! My names Leighton and I’m a 27 year old currently living in San Fernando, California. I don’t have any family really and barely any friends, which is how meeting “Colson” comes into play. 

I’ve been on Tumblr for a few years now and one night a little over a year ago, I got a message asking how I was and saying that they really liked my blog. I started messaging this person a lot and eventually we exchanged names. 

After a month or two of talking, I asked “Colson” why he decided to message me and his response blew me away. He told me that he was interested in some of the poetry I had been posting and the fact I was a fan of his work was a plus. Because apparently “Colson” is Colson Baker aka Machine Gun Kelly. 

I didn’t believe him then and I still don’t now. It’s been over a year of him telling me that he’s MGK and I honestly just want to know the true identity of what’s become my closest friend. 

Thanks for the help! 

\- Leighton

Nev sits back in his seat, trying to wrap his head around the email, his co host trying to do the same. “Wow.” 

“Yeah, I mean, they’re really trying to not even convince her, but just tell her.” Max says, eyebrows furrowed. He couldn’t remember ever doing an episode like this and he doubted that while he was gone for the twenty or so episodes Nev had encountered one like this. 

“That’s what’s most surprising is that even after a year, whoever it is, is still really holding on to it.” 

Max nods, “I already like her from her email, she doesn’t not seem like she takes any bullshit.” 

Nev chuckles, agreeing with him. He scoots forward in his chair a little bit. “Should we give her a call?” 

Max nods, pointing the camera towards the laptop as he starts calling her. 

When the Skype call connects, Nev and Max immediately say hi at the same time making her laugh. “Hi, you guys!” She waves. 

“Hey! You are in for a very special treat, we were able to get Max back for an episode and it just so happens to be yours.” Nev tells her, clapping his friend on the shoulder. 

“Awesome.” 

Max adjusts his camera slightly. “Alright, so we read the email but whoever this is actually is claiming to be Machine Gun Kelly?” 

She nods, lips pressed together tight. “Yeah, and I’ve even said, you aren’t him, just tell me who you really are, and he just tells me, I am him.” She rolls her eyes slightly, giving away just how she feels. 

Nev can’t help but smile at her behavior, despite the state of shock it’s put him in. “I’m a little surprised because usually when someone claims to be a celebrity, people immediately believe them. But, you just instant denial.” 

She nods, “I’ve just always believed the worst, I’m not one to really believe that something good is real.”

Max and Nev frown at that, it didn’t sound like the usual optimist, and even Max despite believing the worst when it came to the show, had things he believed were good right off the bat. “Alright, since you’re in San Fernando, we can be at yours in about an hour?” 

“Okay. Bye you guys!” 

“Bye.” They wave, before Nev presses the red button.

Max looks at Nev for a second before looking at the producer, “So what’s the game plan here?” 

“Yeah, I mean. I have MGK’s number, I can just call him to check. Or do we want to run this like a normal catfish episode?” Nev asks, phone pulled out. 

The producer shakes his head, “No, we’re going to run it like normal. And we have no reason to check since everyone is sure it isn’t him. But, if we can’t find anything after investigating, then you can call and check.” 

Nev slaps his hands down on his thighs, looking at Max with a grin. “Let’s go to San Fernando.” 

The hour drive has put both Max and Nev into an interesting mood. They were already falling into the old habits and as they talked about Leighton, they both felt weird. 

“Let me play the optimist for a second.” 

Nev glances over at him, for a second before returning his gaze to the road. “Okay.” 

Max turns slightly in his seat, camera resting in his lap. “Let’s say for a second that it is Kells. What questions could she possibly have? He’s always said who he is, for the year they’ve been talking. She’s never asked for proof that it is him, so it could be.” 

“We don’t know if she didn’t ask for proof. She didn’t bring it up and we forgot to ask.” Nev points out. 

Max nods, before turning back to what everyone is thinking. “If it’s not him then that will raise a lot of questions. I mean why pretend to be him?” 

Nev rolls his eyes, “the girls. And sure it’s only through online but I could see a lot of girls just like with any celebrity wanting even an online relationship with someone famous.” 

Pulling up to Leighton’s house, they frown seeing a gate. It was already open from the producers getting their before them to mic her up. 

“What did she say she did?” Nev asks. 

“She didn’t. She just mentioned how she wrote poetry on Tumblr.” Max says, unbuckling his seat belt as Nev stops the car and turns it off. 

Nev’s eyebrows furrow, they really seemed to have dropped the ball with asking things. Usually he would know, but all he knew was that she was more than a pessimist than Max and was 27. 

Getting out of the car, they’re greeted by Mike, who quickly mics them up, the motions familiar enough, that they relax. Everyone gets behind Nev and Max, all the cameras rolling, as they walk up the few steps to the front door. 

Rapping his knuckles against the wood door, Nev smiles at the girl who opens it. “Hi.” He greets. 

“Hey.” She greets back, opening the door fully. Hugging both of the men, as they enter her house. The house opens to a small entryway before leading you to the living room and kitchen, that’s only separated by a dining table that is filled with notebooks. She points at a door that you nearly miss, “That’s the bathroom if anyone needs to use it any point.” 

Nev nods, glancing around, he points at another door by the kitchen, “Pantry?” 

She lets out a small laugh, “No the pantry doesn’t have a door, it’s my office.” Seeing both of them look at her dining table, she chuckles. “Yeah, I haven’t been using it as you can see.” 

Max shrugs, panning the camera to look over the house. “I think a lot of people don’t end up using their offices.” 

“Can we sit?” Nev asks, gesturing towards the living room. 

She nods, “Yeah, of course.” 

The three sit down, Leighton and Nev sitting on the couch, while Max sits in the arm chair to the left of them. 

“Are you nervous?” Max asks, as the crew gets the cameras set up. 

“I don’t know. Probably at least a little bit, but I think it’s overpowered by how curious I am.”

They both nod, attention turning to John, as he tells them everything’s set up. “Alright.” Nev mutters, slapping his hands against his thighs. 

“So, we kind of dropped the ball on the phone and didn’t really ask about you.” Nev says, making Max chuckles. 

“Just a little, we know your age and that you write poetry on Tumblr, that’s pretty much it.” 

She nods, a smile on her face, “Yeah, well I went to college for Marine Biology and for a bachelor’s degree for teaching, but I don’t do anything with either of the degrees I did get.” 

“That’s amazing. Why not?” 

“There was no work. I’m still really passionate about it, but there isn’t any work for it, so I turned to poetry. I’ve posted a few things on Tumblr, but I’ve published a few too.” She points at the dining table in front of them. “I’m actually working on getting a job as a teacher though, so I guess I’m kind of doing something with my degree.” 

“Can we ask what kind of teacher or anything like that?” Max asks. 

She nods, “Yeah, I’m looking at being a teacher online, there’s a school that’s looking for an English teacher and someone to fill in part time for a science teacher, which I would be able to do.” 

“Wow, that’s amazing. I know I said it before, but I’m impressed.” Nev laughs. 

“Thank you.” She says, crossing her legs, to get a little bit more comfortable. 

“Let’s talk about your situation now.” Nev says, bring the room down slightly, the mood becomes more serious. “You guys met on Tumblr?” 

Leighton nods, “yeah, I got a message around a year ago that said, hey I read your most recent poem and really liked it. Can’t wait to read more from you.” She shrugs, “I was a little flattered, I hadn’t really gotten messages about my poetry and the fact that someone took time out of their day to send that made my week.” 

“When did you guys really started talking?” Max asks, focusing the camera on her. 

“Probably a month later, I got a message from the same account about a new poem I had just posted, saying about the same thing. I was actually up when I got the message, so I replied back, saying thanks. And from there we just started talking.”

Nev has a soft smile on his face as he listens to her talk, “Do you guys only talk on Tumblr or do you have a phone number for him?” 

“At first it was Tumblr, but we exchanged numbers a month or two after really starting to talk.” She tells him. 

“Had he already claimed that he was Machine Gun Kelly at this point?” Max asks, eyebrows furrowing. 

She shakes her head, “No, it was only after I got his number that I asked him why he started messaging me, that he told me he is Machine Gun Kelly.” 

“Which you don’t believe?” Nev asks, wanting to double check. 

“Yeah.” She laughs, “I don’t believe it at all.” 

“Can we see some of the messages?” Nev asks. 

She nods, unlocking her phone and opening up the text messages. “Here you go.” She says, handing him the phone. 

Nev frowns as he scrolls through the texts, trying to find the top of the thread. “Do you guys text every day?” 

“Nearly every day, yeah.” 

“What about talking on the phone?” Max asks, as Nev is still trying to scroll through everything. 

She shrugs, “he calls sometimes, when he isn’t busy and he knows I’m not busy.” 

Nev stops scrolling, looking up at her. “You guys have talked on the phone?” 

She nods, “Yeah.” 

“Wow.” Nev says, sharing a look with Max, before going to the texts. Stopping when he sees something interesting. “This was from a month ago, he said ‘Morning’. You replied with ‘Afternoon my time.’ He apologized with a ‘Sorry, beautiful.” 

Leighton looks up at her ceiling, feeling herself start to flush. 

“I thought you were just friends.” Nev teases, seeing her reaction and some more texts that were in the flirty territory. 

She looks at him, “We are just friends, we just flirt a little.” 

“Do you like him?” Max asks, voice quiet, as if he’s trying to not let the mics pick it up. 

She hesitates but nods, “I think I do.”

Nev changes the subject, having seen something else interesting in the text messages. “I’m seeing quite a few photos exchanged between you too.”

She nods, “yeah, I kind of figured the ones I was being sent are just ones from the internet.” 

Nev nods, “well, when you email us, send a few of the photos, because they should pop up if they’re from a google image search.” 

“Alright.”

The visit wraps up quickly, Nev and Max are back in the car, both of them sharing a look as the trunk closes, leaving them alone with the camera rolling. 

“We have to find out who this. I mean, she’s such a sweet girl and if they’re just fucking with her, I’m going to be pissed.” Nev says. 

Max nods, agreeing with the taller. “This feels weird still. I thought for sure that after talking to her, I would say definitely not him, but I can’t say that.” 

“Yeah.” Nev sighs, his eyebrows furrowed. 

A day later after scouring the internet for who this person could be, they found nothing. Nev stares at the laptop in disbelief, Max in a similar state. 

“This person has a Cleveland phone number, pictures that aren’t showing up when we search them, what the fuck.” Max snaps, earning a glare from a producer for cursing. 

Nev runs a hand over his face, “I don’t know. I’m for once at a loss. Everything checks out.” 

The older man lets out a small laugh, “so, what this is MGK? Can we really believe that?” 

“I don’t know. That’s the problem. It could not be or it could. Before I was ready to immediately say no, but now.” Nev trails off. 

Max sighs, “lets go to Leighton’s and tell her what we found.” 

“More like what we didn’t find.” 

Instead of sitting on the couch like they did the day before, they sit at the now clutterless dining room table. Nev claps his hands together, startling Max which makes Leighton laugh and in turn makes Nev laugh. Everyone else starts rolling their eyes, but there’s small smiles on their faces. It wasn’t often that they saw someone interact so freely with Nev and whoever else was hosting.

Nev opens up the laptop, still chuckling. “Alright,” The mood shifts in the room instantly at the one word. “We searched the pictures and nothing came up.” 

She frowns at that. 

“So, we then searched the phone number.” He goes to the tab that has what they found from searching the number. “The number is from Cleveland and from what this is telling us, it’s an actual phone number, not a text app.” 

“So whoever this is, really went for it. I mean pictures that don’t show up, a phone number from Cleveland.” One of her hands comes up to her face, as she mutters a quiet fuck.

Max pats her on the arm, a sorry look on his face. “Did he ever talk to you about Cleveland?” 

She nods, “Yeah, he talked about it a lot.” 

Nev hesitates, but asks. “Did this person ever talk to you about MGK’s daughter.” 

“Yeah, and I thought it was a little sick, because he would mention that he might not be able to talk because he was spending the day with her.” Leighton looks down at the table, “Every time he messaged me that, I didn’t really talk to him for awhile.” She shrugs, “I don’t know it rubbed me the wrong way, him saying that as if…” She trails off, letting them fill in the blanks. Nev nodding along with what she was saying, he hated the idea of someone using another person’s kids as an excuse.

Max and Nev share a look, it had been something that had been brought up during the drive over, how they needed to open her up to the possibility that it could be him. Max clears his throat, “With the pictures not coming up with anything and the phone number being one from Cleveland, we might have to consider that this is him.” 

“If it’s him, I’ll look like a huge bitch, since he told me that it was him.” 

Nev shakes his head, “No, you won’t. There’s so many reasons for you to not think that it was him.” He rubs his hands against his thighs, “I guess now, I should call the number you have for him.” 

She nods, “Yeah.” 

Nev gets up, phone in his hand but before he can take a step, Leighton’s phone rings. 

“It’s him.” She says, eyes locked on her phone. 

Nev quickly sits back down, “Answer and put it on speaker.” 

She quickly slides her finger left, answering the call, and then putting it on speaker. “Hi.” 

“Hey, beautiful.” No one misses how Leighton seems to flush at the greeting. “Whatcha up to?” 

“Nothing really, just getting ready for a meeting.” It wasn’t a full lie. “You?” 

“I’m trying to clean up my room, it looks like a fucking pig sty.” 

A laugh leaves her at that, “From what you’ve told me, I can imagine. Piles of clothes everywhere.” She teases. She opens her eyes, when she feels Nev nudge her arm, as he points to a piece of paper in front of him. “Hey, I might have to go to Ohio for an awards thing and magazine interview, do you know anywhere I could stay?” 

“Where in Ohio?” 

“The awards are being held near Cleveland, but the interview is for University of Toledo.” She bites at her lip, at this point she felt like she was lying even though she wasn’t. It was pure luck that Nev had seen the invitation for the awards on her kitchen counter. 

“I mean if you don’t mind the long drive to Toledo, you could just stay at my house. I don’t know if I’d be in Cleveland to be with you, but you could still stay there.” 

“I don’t have the date in front of me, but I can send you the details later?” She offers, “I really need to finish getting ready.” 

“Yeah, send em when you can. Have fun at your meeting.” 

She hangs up the call, sinking back into her chair. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so stressed.”

Nev pats her on the shoulder, “You did good and I don’t think I really need to call.” 

“What?” 

Nev lets out a small laugh, “I still will, but I’ve talked on the phone with him before, that’s his voice if I’ve ever heard it.”

Max wants to agree, he had talked on the phone with him a few times before, not as much as Nev, and that did sound like him. 

The taller man, pats her on the shoulder again. “I’m gonna go call him, you process.”

Two people follow him out, one holding a camera, as he goes out to her backyard. 

Max sets down the small camera, leaving it pointed at the table. “You doing alright?” 

“I think my brain has melted. I never even considered that it could be him until you guys told me it could and now, Nev saying that. I just don’t know what to think.” 

He nods, “Just think about this way, he’s very honest.” 

That makes her laugh, “yeah, I guess so.” 

In the backyard, Nev puts the phone on speaker, making funny faces at the camera as it rings. “Hello?” 

“Hey, Kells. It’s Nev.” 

“Nev! What the fuck is up man?” 

“Nothing really, it’s just I’m doing an episode of catfish right now, and your name came up.” 

“My name?”  
“Yeah, your name.” It’s silent for a few seconds, making Nev slightly nervous. 

“Leighton, she emailed you guys?” He asks. 

“She did and honestly I could see why she didn’t think it was you. You called, but didn’t facetime.” 

Kells sighs, “I know, man. It’s just she right off the bat was like fuck you, no you aren’t and I liked that. So I was truthful with her about shit, even though she didn’t believe me. I know I could of facetimed her, but I wasn’t ready for her to maybe drop me once she realized I was me.” 

“She’s not going to drop you. Right now she’s a little in shock, knowing that you are you, but she still wants to meet as far as I know. So, if she does are you up for that? Are you in California?” 

“I’m more than willing to meet and I am in Cali. I would say meet at my place, but it’s always got people in it.”

Nev nods, “How about we meet here at Leighton’s if she gives the go ahead, I’ll text you.” 

“Yeah, that sounds good man.” 

“Alright, bye.” 

“Bye.” 

Nev stares at the camera a giant grin on his face, “This is insane.” Going back into the house, the large smile on his face tells Max and Leighton, what they already figured. 

“It’s really him.” She breathes. 

Nev nods, sitting next to her. “He told that he’s willing to meet up if you are.” 

“Yeah, of course.” Her answer is quick. 

“Awesome, now usually we would drive or fly to wherever the person is, but he’s got a house full of people, so I said that if it was alright with you, he could come to your house.” 

“That works for me.”

“Okay, let me just text him the address and then we just wait.” Nev tells her. 

A knock at the door nearly an hour later, makes them stop mid game of charades, the crew even having gotten involved. Nev smiles at Leighton. “You stay here and I’ll go get him.” 

She takes a deep breath, nodding. She watches as he goes to the door. She turns slightly to face Max, “I’m so nervous.” 

“I bet you he is too.” 

She can hear the door open and the two greet each other, before the door closes. “This is a nice house, man.” She hears Colson say, and despite the nerves she feels, a smile begins playing on her lips at the sound of his voice. 

She closes her eyes for a second, trying to calm herself, before facing where Colson is. Opening them, she can see him doing what Nev and Max had both done when entering her house for the first time, admiring the decor. “It’s small, but nice.” 

His head snapped towards her, mouth dropping slightly, eyes wide. “Wow.” He breathes, moving forward until there’s barely a foot between them. “You are stunning.” 

Leighton can feel the blood rush to her cheeks, “You look very handsome, yourself.” 

He smiles at how shy she sounds, she seemed to get like that anytime he complimented her. “Can I get a hug?” 

She nods, and before she can process it, she’s in his arms. She wraps her arms around his neck, unable to put them around his waist, since his face is buried in her neck.

“I’m so happy I got to meet you.” He mumbles into her neck. The words and feeling of his lips and breath brushing her skin makes her smile brighter. 

Max and Nev share a smile as they watch the two hug, it wasn’t often that a happy ending like this happened. Max moves over to where Nev is standing, wanting to give them some space, as they start to pull away from each other. “Five bucks say when we check in, they’ll be dating.” 

“You’re on.”

–

Nev waves at the camera in Max’s hands, both of them standing in front of a brick building. “It’s been about two months since we last checked in with Leighton, and we are lucky enough to be able to do it in person.” When Nev finishes, Max turns the camera to show the marquee that says Machine Gun Kelly SOLD OUT, in bold letters. 

When the camera picks back up a few hours later, it shows Nev giving Leighton a hug and then a weird angle as Max hugs her. “How’ve you been?” Nev asks, an excited grin on his face. 

“I’m good. What about you guys?” She asks. 

Before they can answer, a giant walks into the room and wraps his arms around the girl, giving her a kiss in the process. “What’s up you guys?” He asks, pulling away to give them both a hug. 

“Nothing much, the concert was great.” Max tells him. 

He grins at that, “glad you guys enjoyed yourselves. You like it?” He asks, Leighton. 

“Always do.” She smiles, pressing a kiss to his jaw. 

“I see you guys are together and very happy.” Nev chuckles. 

The couple in front of the shares a look, neither could describe. “Yeah, we really are.”


End file.
